Vinyl fluoride (i.e., CH.sub.2 .dbd.CHF or VF) is a useful monomer for the preparation of fluorocarbon polymers which have excellent weathering and chemical resistance properties.
Vinyl fluoride can be produced from acetylene and hydrogen fluoride using mercury catalysts. It can also be produced by the dehydrofluorination of 1,1-difluoroethane (i.e., CHF.sub.2 CH.sub.3 or HFC-152a). U.S. Pat. No. 2,892,000 discloses a process for the manufacture of vinyl fluoride and 1,1-difluoroethane. In this process HF and acetylene are passed over a chromium catalyst (e.g., a chromium oxide or chromium salt catalyst) to obtain mixtures of VF and HFC-152a. A process is also disclosed in this patent for the conversion of product HFC-152a to VF using these catalysts.
Japanese Patent Application No. 52-122310 discloses a process for the manufacture of vinyl fluoride by the reaction of ethylene, HF and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst comprising metallic palladium, copper chloride and, optionally, a chloride of zinc, aluminum, cerium, iron, or nickel. The catalyst was pretreated with HF.
Hexafluoroethane is useful electronic gas. There is an ongoing interest in developing processes for the production of fluorinated olefins such as vinyl fluoride and for the production of hexafluoroethane, especially processes which do not involve the use of chlorine compounds.